Friday, October 4, 2013

Milo Duffek Receives IWHoF Award

Milo Duffek

Former Chair of the ACA's European Division Raphael Kuner, and ACA Chief Operating Officer Chris Stec inducted legendary international paddler Milo Duffek into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame(IWHoF) last night at the PaddleExpo Show in Nuremberg, Germany. Also in attendance were IWHoF Board of Governors Risa Shimoda, Pam Dillon, and 2013 ACA President's Award winner Virgil Chambers. The following description is courtesy of the IWHoF website.Year Inducted: 2013Category: ChampionSport: Slalom
RacingYears Active: 1951-1966Home
Base: Geneva, SwitzerlandChampion Accomplishments:

Silver Medal in K-1 1955 World Championships

Established sportsmanship through international exchange and
instruction

Other Accomplishments:

Popularized the turning draw stroke now known as the “Duffek”

First racer to introduce flatwater training techniques to whitewater

Qualified for 1948 Olympic Games in K2 1000 meter event, but Communist party
refused to allow him to compete.

27th place K-1 Slalom 1953 World Championships

4th place K-1 Slalom 1959 World Championships

Milo Duffek was one of the first paddlers to escape communist Czechoslovakia
for the west, setting the pattern of frequent international migration that is
central to the paddlesport community. Historian Bill Endicott writes: “Duffek
never won a gold medal. In Merano Italy at the Worlds he won something even
more precious: His Freedom.” Duffek’s daring defection happened during the 1953 World Championships in
Merano, Italy…. His trip from communist Czechoslovakia was heavily guarded.
Endicott describes the event: “He was the favorite to win, but if he had won he
would have been the center of attention. So he had to deliberately throw the
race, deliberately miss a gate so the attention would be diverted from him that
evening.” Milo’s guard got drunk in the festivities that followed the Worlds, and Milo
escaped with the help of the Swiss team. He had traded his chance to be World
Champion for a new life and freedom. From his new home in Switzerland, Duffek
shared his paddling expertise with a fast-growing audience in many countries,
including teaching the roll, surfing, and even eddy turns to an unfamiliar
audience in the US. Clinics he taught overseas helped establish many other centers of whitewater
sport, and established a pattern of international exchange in
paddling.